At my suburban home, I had a safe and secure coop with an enclosed run. I decided to add on a not so secure welded wire 4 foot tall fence over which I cross crossed some string to prevent hawk attacks. No chickens were killed in all that time and I feel very fortunate. That coop had to be taken down when we moved rurally late last year and the ladies now live in a chicken tractor that I’ve wrapped in plastic, and an electric fence run with heavy duty bird netting over everything.
But my girls need a more permanent structure for next winter. We lucked out and got barely any snow this winter but we can get feet of snow most years. The hawks visit every day hoping for a snack but the net deters them. A fox tried to sneak up on them but I scared him away. At my old house, a fox climbed into the 4 foot welded wire fence and quickly climbed out when I scared him away. Luckily, my girls were safe and secure in their coop.
All this leads to me wondering what is the best way to build their run. Can I just put netting over it like lots of people on YouTube do or should I make it all hardware cloth like paranoid me wants to do? If a fox can climb a non-electrified 4 foot fence easily, won’t it be able to rip through netting on the top of a run? Also, I was informed by the owner of a local feed store that a weasel decimated his chicken flock one year so he got a dog run with hardware cloth the first 3 feet up, and welded wire on top and on the floor. He said he doesn’t need the hardware cloth all the way up. His coop and run are by a river and he said weasels live in that river. I’m closeby to a river so I worry about weasels now. Can they really not climb very high and then squeeze through holes larger than 1/2”? I would think they’re quite agile. And if I just do a bird netting top, I bet they could easily squeeze through that. So many questions! Thanks in advance for all replies!
But my girls need a more permanent structure for next winter. We lucked out and got barely any snow this winter but we can get feet of snow most years. The hawks visit every day hoping for a snack but the net deters them. A fox tried to sneak up on them but I scared him away. At my old house, a fox climbed into the 4 foot welded wire fence and quickly climbed out when I scared him away. Luckily, my girls were safe and secure in their coop.
All this leads to me wondering what is the best way to build their run. Can I just put netting over it like lots of people on YouTube do or should I make it all hardware cloth like paranoid me wants to do? If a fox can climb a non-electrified 4 foot fence easily, won’t it be able to rip through netting on the top of a run? Also, I was informed by the owner of a local feed store that a weasel decimated his chicken flock one year so he got a dog run with hardware cloth the first 3 feet up, and welded wire on top and on the floor. He said he doesn’t need the hardware cloth all the way up. His coop and run are by a river and he said weasels live in that river. I’m closeby to a river so I worry about weasels now. Can they really not climb very high and then squeeze through holes larger than 1/2”? I would think they’re quite agile. And if I just do a bird netting top, I bet they could easily squeeze through that. So many questions! Thanks in advance for all replies!
. An expanded run is on the to do list for this spring, so hopefully next snow season will need less run repairs.
